


Notes & Initial Drafts for  "Inheritance"

by heartsinger



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Divorce, Gen, Implied/Referenced Famine, Post-Book 14: A Memory of Light, Seanchan, Slavery, implied/referenced war, not especially kind to fortuona, the a'dam is awful and this fic doesn't shy from that, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21990586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsinger/pseuds/heartsinger
Summary: Unfinished draft—well, the start of one—for a very long post-AMOL fic centering on the point when Mat and Fortuona's relationship becomes untenable. Unfinished and will almost certainly remain so.ETA: There were always four chapters, but I didn't realize the "Post" button only posted the first.
Relationships: Mat Cauthon & Mat's Children, Mat Cauthon & Min Farshaw, Rand al'Thor/Aviendha (Wheel of Time)/Min Farshaw/Elayne Trakand, anti-Mat Cauthon/Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag | Tuon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	1. Sustenance

**Author's Note:**

> This story is unfinished, and will almost certainly remain so. Don't say you weren't warned. It is potentially up for endorsed adoption, and of course even if I don't agree with the direction someone takes the story, I would consider it the height of hypocrisy to call it wrong to use my story as a base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had all gone to plan, this would have been a prequel (there probably would have been more than one) to the story that started it all, Inheritance. It's rough and presented without editing.

Rand has been riding through the former Blight for ten days. The plants are healthy and green now, which is helpful, because it makes singing for his supper far simpler. He doesn’t care to consider the consequences of seed singing a Blighted plant. There is nowhere he needs to be, no expectations weighing him down. He is responsible for nothing but himself and it is wonderful. But… he never realized how much companionship enlivens a journey. The green landscape is a joy to look upon, but the silence is eerie. The plants are in full bloom, and he hasn't seen a single creature of the Blight, but there are no natural animals either. He hasn't seen or heard so much as an insect, and it makes everything seem a little off. It is in this unnatural silence that a familiar buzzing sound he has never heard before starts making a racket in his money pouch. He frowns. What could be there to make such a sound? He pulls up on Strider the Third's reins and opens the deep pouch, reaching inside, where he finds… a bracelet? A vibrating bracelet. He blinks at it for a moment, then shakes his head. Of course. A communication ter'angreal. He taps it in a pattern he had, in another life, known by heart before his tenth birthday.

“Greetings, Rand al’Thor.” Aviendha's voice could truly be next to him. He can't help but smile, though an undercurrent of anxiety rolls through his belly.

“Shade of my heart. Is all well?”

“Yes. We miss you. There has been much to do.”

A wave of exhaustion passed through Rand. “What do you need, Aviendha?”

“Need? We just miss you.”

* * *

We meant to give you more time, but Elayne is in labor, and she asks for you.”

Rand blinks. A confusing mess of joy and terror rises in him. He takes a breath in and lets it out slowly. _ A new life. A new chance. There is no taint. We won, by the Light. _

“Oh. I… I want to meet them, of course, but how can we possibly explain…”

“Foolish wetlander, all is planned. 

* * *

SUDDEN-FIX He reaches the top of the mountain he’s been riding over, looks out over it, and frowns. The green goes on full-grown and rioting almost to the edge of sight, but at the far edge of his vision, there’s a change in the landscape. The color is different. Greyer. Something is wrong. Rand squints, trying to get a better look, but it's no use. He kicks his horse faster. Perhaps the top of the next mountain will provide a more illuminating view. The Dark One’s touch is gone. *_ How can the land look so shadowed? Could my victory have been less complete than I believed? Surely if the Dark One could still touch the world I would know. Surely. But what else could prevent the land from recovering? _ * Hours later, shadows long, he isn't even halfway to the next high point, and the idea that the Shadow might still cast a pall will not leave him. He has to look, has to see, really see, not from a mountaintop, but up close. He can't push the gelding any harder, though, and he's still days and days from the former Blightborder. Without the Power, how can he speed his passage? Perhaps… the idea seems mad, but is it any more ridiculous than starting fires with a thought? Rand closes his eyes and _ *thinks* _ he is at the very edge of the ex-Blight, and when he opens his eyes he is there.

Seeing up close, it's obvious the plants are growing now, but they haven’t had the massive burst of growth that the ones in the once-Blight did, and green growth is only just poking past dark ash._ The Pattern in what was the Blight has been so long overshadowed by the Dark One’s touch that it sprang back hard. But in the rest of the world things have only gone back to normal, not grown to riot overnight. _For a moment he feels pure relief—the Dark One’s touch truly is gone—, but there is still a sour note in his thoughts. Why? The food. They are almost out of food. Did they win the Last Battle only to die of starvation before they can bring in new crops?

The land is recovering, and the weaves to encourage growing are known, but even with a full circle of seventy-two, using the Power alone to grow things might, with angreal and skill, grow two acres of crops in a day. It will not be enough. Not with how depleted stores are. What more can be done? No one knows seed singing anymore. _No one except me. _

Power-augmented seed singing can do four times what Power-forced growing can, and seed singing can involve far more people. People who do not have the Power, but the Voice, one of the most common Talents among men who cannot channel, possessed by perhaps nine in ten, and rare but not unheard of among women, perhaps one in a thousand. Everyone else can clap or dance. Neither is strictly necessary for smaller tricks, but to cover truly large areas—and to speed growth by months rather than simply give it a good start—both will be needed. The need to rush things is unfortunate—sped food never tastes quite right, but people of this time won't notice anyway, as normally grown food doesn't reach its full potential either. But Rand alone knows how it is done. 

_I have to return _, Rand realizes bitterly. _Not even a week of freedom and the Pattern weaves me back into duty_. But how? He cannot afford to be identified as himself or as Moridin. He knows that Min, Aviendha, and Elayne are not in Shayol Ghul anymore; he felt them Travel elsewhere two days ago. Aviendha and Elayne are to the southwest. A long way, but not anywhere near enough of one to be Caemlyn, Cairhien, or even Tar Valon. Certainly not Rhuidean in the west. Probably even still the Borderlands. Min, on the other hand, is so far southeast she might be on the opposite side of the continent. It itches at him for her to be so far away from the other two, and perhaps in Seanchan. Why would she go there? Perhaps she is helping Mat with something. Why would Elayne and Aviendha be in the Borderlands? Why not pack up and go home? Rand shuts his eyes, trying to remember the things he saw in the outside world while locked in battle with the Dark One. _Merrilor. Egwene died and Lan lived at Merrilor _ . Where can Rand go that will be close enough to find them, but unlikely to run into anyone who will ask inconvenient questions? This _thinking _is not like the One Power, and perhaps he does not need to know exactly where he is going. Or rather, know exactly where the place he is going is. It’s a risk, but the only other plan he can think of is to attempt to move to somewhere still fairly far from Merrilor and hope Elayne and Aviendha get curious, which will take a while and, given how little he is certain of about what has happened, still risky.

Rand dismounts the horse and hobbles it with a vine he grew the first day, then closes his eyes and_ thinks_. He opens his eyes to Elayne’s tent, precisely as intended. Elayne is sitting in a chair next to him, eyes open wide and looking at him in utter astonishment.

“Rand,” Elayne says in an undertone, “There was no gateway. How are you here?”

“I don’t entirely understand it, but I can_ think_ things real now. It isn’t the Power—the fight burned me out. I think maybe it has something to do with the way I touched the Pattern during my fight with the Dark One.”

Elayne blinks at him for a moment. “We thought you’d stay away longer.”

“I planned to, but then I saw what the world looks like outside what used to be the Blight. The plants aren’t growing fast enough, and food stores are desperate already. Without seed singing techniques, the world will starve.”

“You know something that can help? That’s wonderful news! We’ve been trying to make it sound like we have some handle on the situation, but it’s a lie. We thought we were done, you know. Everyone was about to go home when Faile—Queen Faile, now—called everyone together and explained how desperate the food situation is. Seanchan still went back to bloody Ebou Dar, claim they have more than enough food, though from Mat’s face I’d say that’s untrue. Everyone else who fought remains here, or in Mayene. They’re planting fields as fast as they can, and Aes Sedai and Asha’man are trying desperately to create weaves bigger and faster than those we know, but it’s not enough.”

“I know. What I don’t know is how to explain… People won’t like that we lied to them, Elayne.”

“True, but do they have to know?”

“I think a random guy who can make things grow like the Dragon did coming out of your tent and announcing a solution might cause people to put it together.”

“Teach me, then.”

“I doubt you have the Talent of the Voice, Elayne. Few women do. And how would you explain leaving people hanging for two days?”

“I needed to experiment to be certain it would work, or I needed to examine documents you left behind for me. Both, even. The Aes Sedai have been pretty cagey, implied we’re working on some secret plan. We might need to let a few more Sisters in on your secret, but it can be done without putting the Dragon back in play.”

“I’m fairly certain Cadsuane knows. She saw me ride away.”


	2. Inheritance

“Elayne is in labor. Rand’s children are being born right now, Highest One, and I will be there to see them. Please ask a  _ damane _ to make me a gateway.”

“It is unsafe—”

“Please, Highest, there have been five attempts on my life in the past six weeks. There were none while I was at the Andoran court. Simply get someone in here who can open a gateway to the Sun Palace traveling ground. I’ll have Elayne make me one back here in a few days. If I’m not back in two weeks, you can make inquiries. Polite ones.”

“You are my Truthspeaker, Darbinda, you cannot be away from court.”   
“Find a substitute or go without. I am leaving, Greatest One, and your decision is whether I return or not.”

“Very well. Take care, Darbinda. No one is so important to the Empire they cannot be done away with.”

“And no one is so important they can ignore the will of the Light. Thank you, Highest One. I will see you in two weeks or less.

* * *

“Are you certain you wish to return, Min Farshaw?”

“I can help secure the Peace this way. And I need to understand the Seanchan ideas about what I see.”

“I understand. We will speak more when you return?”

“Yes. In a few months, I think. I had to be rather forceful with the Empress (may she live forever)—Light, I’m even doing it here!— to convince her to allow me to leave. Apparently the Truthspeaker doesn’t generally leave court.”

“We must get to know one another better. I want us to be ready to put a bridal wreath at his feet as soon as he returns.”

Min nods. “That would be best, I think. Why don’t we start exchanging letters? We must be careful. Nothing the Empress should not know can go in the letters, but it will be better than nothing while I’m away. I’ll send one for both of you to start. Hopefully I can get them sent by gateway, but it may have to be by messenger. We’ll see. I really should go. If I’m not back by today there will be trouble.”

Aviendha opens the gateway. “May you always find water and shade, Min.”

“Light illumine you, Aviendha.” Min steps through onto the cobbles of the courtyard at the Tarasin Palace that has become the traveling ground.

* * *

“I thought you wouldn’t come.”

“You have always been a bloody fool. You missed my labor. I won’t allow you to miss Aviendha’s.”

“Elayne, I can’t—you’re safer—”

“No. I won’t hear it. You gave everything for the world, Rand, and I love you for it, but don’t you miss me? Aviendha? Min?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then why are you being such a flaming woolhead about it?”

“I still can’t choose.”

“Choose what?”

“Which of you I wan—”

“Mother’s milk in a cup, I thought we were done with this nonsense. You have all of us. Stop guilting yourself over nothing and come home.”

“People will ask questions.”

“The other end of the gateway is inside the anti-eavesdropping wards. Don’t worry about it.”

“And my horse?”

“Leave him here for now. I have a plan to bring you home properly, but that will take longer. But Min finally managed to slip away for a time, and we’ll all be together for a while if I have to drag you home.”

“That won’t be necessary, Elayne.” Rand steps through the gateway hand-in-hand with Elayne, his horse tied with plenty of grass behind them.

* * *

“Highest One, the Prince of the Ravens, the Doomseer, and the Daughter of the Nine Moons have not arrived. But these letters were found in your personal chambers, one on your bed, one on your desk, and one in that nursery.” The  _ da’covale _ is clearly terrified, her hands shaking as she offers up the letters on a tray. Selucia takes the letters and Voices a dismissal when Fortuona signals her to do so. Fortuona flashes her fingers in a dismissal for Selucia, who flicks her fingers in protest. Fortuona repeats the dismissal more sharply, and Selucia leaves the room. Only then, with no one at all to see any weakness, does she dare to check the hand on each letter. It is as she suspected. One from Knotai, one from Darbinda, and one from Surandre. She opens her husband's letter and begins to read.

_ The fourteenth year of the Fourth Age, three days after Sunday (the sixteenth day of Amadaine) _

_ Dear Empress Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag, _

From the salutation, her stomach turns to lead. Never had her husband called her so formally. Not once. 

_ 'You will know by now that Surandre, Dureem, Haldak, Min, and I have not returned as planned. I wish I could tell you that this was because we had word of some special assassination attempt awaiting our return, or because some brief errand had delayed us. I cannot. We will not return.' _

_'Surandre has the spark, and I will not see my own daughter collared, nor will I leave my other children to be assassinated in yet another struggle over the Crystal Throne. I thought when I fell for you that you would come to see that collaring women who can channel is both evil and stupid, but you remain stubborn. I should have said these words when you explained to me that we should teach our children to try to murder each other, but until you spoke last month of things perhaps being stable enough now in Koudam N’Miere_ _that we can begin to think of the __marath’damane__ of the Westlands again, I wanted to believe it would not be necessary. Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag is not my wife. Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag is not my wife. Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag is not my bloody wife.' _

And, she realised, halfway through letter, coldness touching her arms though the day is pleasant, not ever. She no longer has a husband. 

_ 'You may not think divorce for Princes of the Ravens exists, but I won’t be your toy, and I certainly won’t allow you to kill me. Never wanted to be a bloody noble anyway. Light, ‘Tuona, I never wanted it to end like this, but I can no longer pretend that supporting you won’t get everyone else I care for killed. Min can't, either. I asked her to stay when you first met her, to help you understand that Rand and the people of the Westlands deserve your respect. But you still rail against the Dragon’s Peace, speak of the day you can afford to break it. Do not bloody try it. Do not try to imprison us, either. I love you still, and I never want to hurt you more than I know I have today, but if you make it necessary, I will lead any who will follow against you.' _

And the things he had written! Such insolence! She should have him killed for this!  _ (Does he really believe that I do not love him? _ Irrelevant. He is a traitor. The Empress cannot love a traitor. The Empress cannot love at all.) There is, along with her anger and sadness, a strange pride growing within her. She had thought Knotai incapable of plotting against her, a novelty as strange as it was pleasant. Now she finds that he has been doing so almost from the beginning. She continues reading the letter. How dare he threaten her?!

_ 'Please stay home, find another Prince of the Ravens, and forget me and my children. My children, because you may have borne them, but their nurses and me flaming raised them. You at least managed to spend time with them at an almost reasonable frequency, though now I almost wish you had been as indifferent to them as your mother was to you. It would have made this easier. Dureem cries every night. Surandre is furious with you, but underneath that I know she is grieving, too. Haldak doesn’t understand yet. I don’t know whether to hope he forgets about you or not. _

_ In sorrow, _

_ Mat Cauthon _

_ P.S. I didn’t find out about the name until after  _ <strike> _ our _ </strike> _ my daughter talked Elayne into publishing it. I never asked her to give up your name and I certainly didn’t suggest she change her first name, let alone the one she chose. I’m sorry.' _

How could he say she did not spend enough time with her children? She had spent more time with her children than any Empress (or even any member of the High Blood) in centuries, probably. With fingers that do not shake or grasp overhard only by dint of years of experience hiding her emotions, she sets down Knotai’s letter and picks up Darbinda's. 

_ 'The 14th year of the 4th Age, 3 days after Sunday (the 16th day of Amadaine) _

_ To: Empress Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag of Seanchan _

_ From: Min Farshaw, once known as Darbinda Doomspeaker in Seanchan lands _

_ Highest One: _

_ You have named my your Truthspeaker, and so I will for one last time perform that office for you in this letter. You have ignored my most important statements over the past ten years. You still refuse to see the error in collaring channelers. I have pressed and shouted and whispered and signed and even on one memorable occasion sobbed to you that your inability to accept Western ways in this is evil and misguided, and you will not hear me. The first day we met, I had every intention of asking for rescue (for I certainly felt imprisoned) until your then-husband convinced me to remain as a bridge between our peoples. I agreed because it did need doing, and I too hoped to bring you to an understanding of the Westlands and of channelers that might allow a permanent peace. After fourteen years of helping solidify your rule only to hear you speak of the day you can conquer my people (have you forgotten that your former husband and I are Andoran? That Elayne is my sister-wife and as good as your sister-in-law? Light,  _ _ your _ _ —Mat’s children have played with ours all their lives!) with urgency and longing, I can no longer justify helping you. Mat, the poor thing, still believes he loves you, though I hope with time he will find someone who can care for him and not some fantasy of a prince he never wanted to be. I never had any such fondness for you or your cursed Empire, may it fall to pieces, but I did get to like you, most of the time. I wish you had chosen differently. Mark me now, and I swear by the Light and my hope of salvation and rebirth that this is truly a viewing as I saw it: over your head was Mat bound and gagged and probably dead, and you with a knife through your chest, and dead ravens scattered around you both. This is your empire’s and your death should you pursue him. I have had only two conditional viewings, both of them in the years leading up to the Last Battle. I do not know why I should have another (perhaps the Pattern is not done with Mat after all), but I am entirely certain of the meaning.  _ _ Please _ _ , Fortuona, leave him be. Leave your children. You cannot win this. And I believe facing you or your people across a battlefield will break Mat. He holds himself responsible for all the  _ <strike> _ dam _ </strike> _ women who can channel that were killed in a battle they never got to choose. Never doubt that any general who opposes you will have me at their side. _

_ In case it is not entirely clear, I resign the position of Truthspeaker to the Empress of Seanchan, abdicate all other Seanchan titles, and reject membership in the High Blood. _

_ Min Farshaw, sister-wife to the Queen of Andor and Cairhien' _

This letter is far less surprising. Darbinda has always been uncomfortable in her service. But her comments about Fortuona's marriage! How  _ dare _ she imply she had forced Knotai to do anything that wasn't in his best interest, in the end! The viewing is concerning. She must think it over. The third letter she should not read. The Empress does not receive letters from  _ marath’damane. _ But she cannot resist. It is from Surandre. She should not think such things; Surandre no longer exists. Yet… she does. 

_ '16 Amadaine, FA 14 _

_ Dear Mother: _

_ I wish things had been different, that you were a woman I could respect. The fact is, however, that I hate you. When I was very small, I never really thought about  _ _ Aunt _ _ Elayne Sedai’s gateways and how similar they are to the  _ _ damane’s _ _ gateways at home. It seemed perfectly obvious that  _ _ damane _ _ and an Aes Sedai could not be the same, because a  _ _ damane _ _ isn’t really a person, and an Aes Sedai is. When I was five (in Westlander terms), I asked Nynaeve Sedai why she didn’t have any  _ _ damane _ _ or  _ _ da’covale _ _ . She said that owning people is wrong, that people own themselves and pretending that they do not is an evil lie. I told her that  _ _ damane _ _ aren’t people, and she asked me where I heard that. I said I didn’t know, it’s just obvious. She wanted to know if she was a person, then, if Aes Sedai weren’t people. I was confused. I didn’t understand what being Aes Sedai and  _ _ damane _ _ had to do with each other. She explained that it was only a matter of geography and a vile  _ _ ter’angreal, _ _ the  _ _ a’dam. _ _ I was upset. She told me that people told lies a long time ago to make people think  _ _ Sul’dam  _ _ couldn’t channel and that women who can channel need to be leashed or they will kill people and do bad things. She explained that  _ _ Sul’dam _ _ could learn to channel if they tried, and that women channelers have never been madder than anyone else, and since the taint was cleansed, men are the same. She told me that she doesn’t understand how things could still be as they are, that the truth is known now, that Egwene al’Vere explained to you the horror that is the collar from the inside. That trade tariffs on Seanchan goods are still at the legal limit in most of the Westlands because you will not release the captured  _ _ damane _ _ who you caught in the first years of the invasion. The fury in her expression scared me. Nynaeve Sedai gets angry, but I had never seen her that angry. She told me perhaps my father could give a more reassuring explanation. _

_ So I asked Father. He sighed and told me that he’d hoped I’d be older when we had this talk. That he was trying to convince you to change things, that you had grown up with lies and these things take time. And then he swore me to secrecy. He said that if anyone in Seanchan asked, I must tell them that  _ _ damane _ _ were best off as they are. He told me that I must never, ever take off my medallion, and that if I ever even suspected I might be starting to channel, if I ever saw a weave, I must find him at once. That even I would be collared if I tested with the spark. I asked him about Selu, and he grimaced and told me about how he made the mistake of single-handedly defeating a Sharan channeler during the Last Battle and tried to give her to you, and then tried to free her. That you would permit neither. How having a  _ _ damane _ _ he personally captured is inspiring for the Ever Victorious Army. He also said you would understand in time and that I shouldn’t worry about it. But I couldn't stop thinking about the look in his eyes when he told me to find him if I saw a weave. He was afraid. I had to understand more. So when we returned to the Tarasin Palace, I snuck in when you were training new  _ _ damane _ _ . It wasn’t long after the Feast of Discovery when I managed it. You were working with a young woman who must have been native Altaran. She was crying. She was promising to leave Seanchan, to go anywhere, if only you would let her go. She was refusing to answer to her new name, and you just started ignoring her. Dropped the bracelet right there and moved on, wouldn’t let anyone so much as look at her. She looked so defiant, that day, but so afraid, too. She eventually went quiet. That wasn’t the last time I snuck out. I couldn’t do it every day, or even every month, but I came back when I could. Over time, the girl went silent and hard-faced, and then soft and adoring. The satisfied, contented smile on your face the first time she ate from your palm made me feel ill. You like it! You enjoy turning people into your pets. Like dogs.' _

Fortuona feels a short-lived moment of relief when Surandre’s letter is addressed “Dear Mother,” but every word after is a knife in her heart. 

_ 'Tell me, Highest One, if I had stuck around long enough would you have broken me yourself?' _

At those words, her eyes fill with tears, and she is forced to put down the letter lest she damage it. The truth is that it is her duty to properly train her d—the  _ marath’damane. _ She could entrust it to no other. Yet how could she bear it? She thinks of every  _ damane _ she has ever trained, every one she ever lost her temper on, and, somehow worst of all, the properly worshipful look in their eyes when she gave them a treat. The thought of her daughter looking so causes her to weep harder. But she brings herself under control. She is the Empress. Letters from  _ marath'damane, _ no matter who they used to be, will not wreck her. She picks the letter back up and continues to read.

_ 'I cannot entirely trust otherwise. You  _ _ know _ _ that Elayne Sedai and Nynaeve Sedai and Aviendha and all the channelers of the rest of the Westlands can behave like humans. You know people who haven't been told their whole lives to submit to it are miserable in the collar. The  _ _ a’dam _ _ is an abomination before the Creator. I don't know how you expected us to follow your instruction with the counterexamples we encountered during Father’s time every year. Perhaps you really do care for Father, in your way, or perhaps only for his military genius and prophetic importance. If I thought Father would survive it, I’d almost hope you will break the Peace so it may be reforged without the horror of the  _ _ a’dam. _ _ But Father still cares for you, and I cannot hope for that when I know it will further break his heart. As things are, know that I have said these things thrice before witnesses and Elayne Sedai is as I write publishing them widely in my own hand and over my signature and the seal of the Daughter of the Nine Moons: I, Surandre Athaem Kore Paendrag, on my own behalf and that of my heirs, forever abdicate and renounce all claim to the Crystal Throne and the office of Empress (or Emperor) of Seanchan in favor of the line of Berelain sur Paendrag Paeron, Blessed of the Light, Defender of the Waves, High Seat of House Paeron, First of Mayene. I further renounce the title of Daughter of the Nine Moons; all rights, responsibilities, and privileges of a member of the Imperial family and of the High Blood of Seanchan; the name Surandre Athaem Kore Paendrag; and lastly yet perhaps most importantly disavow all relationship to Empress Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag of Seanchan. I have no mother. I have no mother. I have no mother. My name is Egwene Cauthon, daughter of Mat Cauthon, sister to Dureem and Haldak, and if you kill my father or try to collar me I swear by the Light and my hope of salvation and rebirth that I will snap an  _ _ a’dam _ _ around your neck myself. _

_ Egwene Cauthon, Novice at the White Tower in Tar Valon' _

Her daughter has abdicated her position in the most Andoran way possible. And renounced her. Fortuona’s chest feels cracked open. Surandre has changed her name. She’s gone to the White Tower, and as good as said she wants to be Amyrlin Seat one day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bit with Tuon started it all. The stuff with the romantic quartet probably would have ended up in a prequel.  
Originally, the letters were separate from Fortuona's reading of them. I eventually intended for the reader to see them as they were written, from the perspectives of Min, Mat, and young Egwene. I considered putting them in separate chapters here, but decided to present it this way instead.  
Koudam N'Miere: lit. west of the sea; the main Seanchan lands. The geographically-aware reader will note that the Westlands are west of the Waste and Shara, not Seanchan.


	3. Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literally my notes document.

  * Borderlands (Arafel, Kandor, Shinar, maybe Saldaea) sign an alliance with Malkier, but don’t become vassals to it.
  * Lan and Nynaeve have, like, all of the kids (six or so)
  * Perrin and Faile have around four kids
  * Elayne and Aviendha (and Rand) stick with the six they already have
  * Fortuona and Mat have three before Min has a viewing that Haldak will one day live at the Black Tower and decides she can’t take any more of this and starts dosing them with heartleaf and droughtwort, respectively
  * Berelain and Galad have, oh, about three? I think Berelain might have trouble concieving (but unfortunate implications issues?)
  * From the wiki: Her Illumined Majesty, Tenobia si Bashere Kazadi, Shield of the North and Sword of the Blightborder, High Seat of House Kazadi, Lady of Shahayni, Asnelle, Kunwar and Ganai, therefore: 
  * Her Illumined Majesty, Faile ni Bashere t’Aybara, Shield of the North, Queen of Saldaea, High Seat of House Bashere, Lady of Kazadi, Shahayni, Asnelle, Kunwar, Ganai, Tyr, and Sidona, Lady Steward of the Two Rivers for the Dragon Reborn
  * His Illumined Majesty, Perrin t’Bashere Aybara Goldeneyes, Sword of the Blightborder, Wolfbrother, King of Saldaea, Lord Steward of the Two Rivers for the Dragon Reborn 
  * (High Seat of House Aybara????)
  * Elayne Trakand Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah OR Her Majesty Elayne Trakand Rie, by the Grace of the Light, Queen of Andor and Cairhien, Defender of the Realms, Protector of the People, Defender of the Dragonwall, High Seat of House Trakand
  * al’Lan Mandragoran, Lord of the Seven Towers, Lord of the Lakes, True Blade of Malkier, Defender of the Wall of First Fires, Bearer of the Sword of the Thousand Lakes, King of Malkier
  * el’Nynaeve ti al’Meara Mandragoran Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah, Cleanser of the True Source, Queen of Malkier
  * Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag, Empress of the Seanchan Empire (Majesty, Greatest One, Highest One, Honored One, 
  * Knotai, Prince of the Ravens, Marshal-General of the Ever Victorious Army (Great One, Raven Prince, Honored One, OR Mat Cauthon (if someone insists on being really formal: Captain-General Matrim Cauthon of the Band of the Red Hand, or possibly even Marshal-General Matrim Cauthon of the Armies of the Light at the Last Battle)
  * Cadsuane Melaidhrin, Watcher of the Seals, the Flame of Tar Valon, the Amyrlin Seat
  * Logain Ablar, Sealbreaker, Cua’vron of the Asha’man? Chancellor of the Black Tower?
  * Berelain sur Paendrag Paeron, First of Mayene, Blessed of the Light, Defender of the Waves, High Seat of House Paeron
  * Galadedrid Damodred, Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light, First Consort of Mayene
  * Her Most Illumined Majesty, Ethenielle Cosaru Noremaga, By the Blessing of the Light, Queen of Kandor, Protector of the Land, Shield of the North, High Seat of House Noremaga
  * Paitar Neramovni Nachiman, King of Arafel 
  * Easar Togita, King of Shienar
  * Darlin Sisnera, King of Tear
  * Alliandre Maritha Kigarin, Blessed of the Light, Defender of Garen's Wall, Queen of Ghealdan
  * Roedran Almaric do Arreloa a'Naloy, King of Murandy
  * Gregorin Panar den Lushenos, Steward of Illian (King of Illian)
  * (after her marriage) Caraline Damodred, Queen of Tear, High Seat of House Damodred
  * Rodel Ituralde, King of Arad Doman, High Seat of House Ituralde
  * Lord Maedin Bashere, Steward of Saldaea
  * Tam al’Thor, Deputy Steward of the Two Rivers for the Dragon Reborn
  * Moraine Damodred Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah OR Lady Moraine Damodred, Steward of Cairhien
  * “There is a world in need of rebuilding, Servants of All. Will you sit around in your tower doing nothing while the world starves? My men work themselves into exhaustion daily. With circles we could do so much more! So tell me, Aes Sedai, does that title yet mean something?”
  * Prince Consort of Andor is a thing, and First Prince Regent (TEotW)
  * Galad is immediately after Gawyn in succ be
  * Galgan (Seanchan general) - Minn views a dagger through the heart of a raven, but not Mat
  * ‘Tuona Min viewings: A bloody death lily. Three ships sailing. An insect in the darkness. Red lights, spread across a field that should be lush and ripe. A man with the teeth of a wolf
  * Queen Elayne, Queen Faile, and King Perrin sign documents before her coronation indicating that while the Lord and Lady Steward of the Two Rivers for the Dragon Reborn are sworn to the Andoran crown, the Queen and King of Saldaea are not, though they have a strong alliance and favorable taxes and such. Furthermore, the successions for the Two Rivers and Saldaea will go through different children, to be determined based on the personalities of the children involved
  * Daughter-heir Birgitte Trakand and secondborn child/firstborn son of Perrin and Faile, Con si Bashere Aybara, marry and he becomes the Lord Steward on Perrin’s death. The crown passes from Elayne to Birgitte and then to Birgitte and Con’s daughter. Their son becomes Lord Steward and First Prince of the Sword


	4. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literally just a document full of questions.

  * Mat’s trauma, status of
  * What happens about the food not existing at the end of the Last Battle?
  * Malkier, status of
  * Does the Blight just vanish or what?
  * White Tower, status of
    * (Cadsuane Melidran, the Flame of Tar Valon, the Amyrlin Seat)
  * Black Tower, status of
    * (Logaine Ablar, the Breaker of the Seals, the Fang of the Dragon, the 
  * Pact of the Griffin (the political alliance resulting from the Two Rivers/Ghealdan/Andor/Saldaea thing)
  * Court of the Sun (Andor/Cairhien unification) - change name, the Sun Throne gets all the glory this way
  * Tear - did the monarch stick
  * Arad Doman, status of
  * Illian - did Stepanaos get his kingdom back???
  * Whitecloaks, status of
  * Mayene, status of
  * Aiel, status of
  * International law, status of
  * Fortuona’s brain, status of
  * Atha’an Miere, status of
  * Traveling People, status of
  * Two Rivers, status of
  * Hochin N'Miere (East of the Ocean - the Seanchan Empire in the Westlands)
  * Koudam N’Miere (West of the Ocean - the Seanchan Empire in the Seanchan continent)


End file.
